Finding my MOM – Mary Bruckheimer brought me PEACE !!!!!

WHat a glorious day in 2004 when we found my mother’s grave in Staunton, Illinois after a 50 year search.   Now I know my mother did not leave us.   Photo of Steve (Brown) Lewin with our dachsund Louis on the back deck at a former address.

Lucky Me !!!!!!!! just met a screen writer for movie, Hurt Locker

Yes, that’s correct.  A few days ago I met June Gibson, one of the screen writers that hurled The Hurt Locker  to win BEST SCREENPLAY for 2010.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GxSDZc8etg  a film with a modest budget of $11 Million , won  6 OSCARS including:  Best Picture for 2010 and Best Director for 2010.  In addition  ”The Hurt Locker” won for these three categories: editing, sound editing and sound mixing, in which “Avatar” was also nominated.  Avatar’s budget was a cool $500 MILLION.  Yikes.   How could it ever lose?  But it did and The Hurt Locker was an astounding upset!!!

But guess what?  June is back in St Louis and offering me advice on how to create a screen play treatment for my True Crime Story -  Was Mary Bruckheimer Murdered?   Thank you June and welcome home to St Louis.

PUBLIC ENEMIES released as Movie with Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp plays the role of 1930’s gangster John Dillinger in a Major Motion Picture  (here is movie trailer http://www.publicenemies.net/   –  released in 2009, adapted from PUBLIC ENEMIES, a New York Times Bestseller by Bryan Burrough.  Using the FOIA, the author uses documentation from newspapers, interviews and FBI files to create  an engaging narrative about how the FBI was created – when J. Edgar Hoover was determined to bring an end to the crime wave in 1933-34.  He targeted Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, Bonnie and Clyde PLUS “the last man standing”  Alvin Karpis – probably the smartest Depression-era criminal. 

WOW !!!!!!!  The writing in Public Enemies looks like mine !!!!

Book Expo America 2010 in New York City

Well folks, I attended the BEA in Manhattan at the Javitz Center overlooking the Hudson River.  We stayed at the Paramount Hotel about 5 doors from Broadway and Times Square.  It doesn’t get any better than this !!!!!!!!!!   The authors, keynote speakers, publishers, librarians, and agents were everywhere and a pleasure to meet.  In spite of the long lines to see my favorite authors, such as John Grisham, Lee King and Patricia Cornwell, it was still fun because I had a chance to chat with people standing next to me.    Post any comments.  Judy

Quiz for the Week —

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Quiz of the Week
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A group of unicorns is called a blessing. Twelve or more cows are known as a “flink.” A group of frogs is called an army.
A group of rhinos is called a crash. A group of kangaroos is called a mob. A group of whales is called a pod.
A group of ravens is called a murder. A group of officers is called a mess. A group of larks is called an exaltation.
A group of owls is called a __________?

This tests your investigator skills. If you know the answer, email me at JudyLewin@msn.com or post here for a FREE gift.   Quiz compliments of Rick Frishman’s newsletter.  Thanks, Judy

BOOK EXPO AMERICA 2010 in New York —

I am signed up to attend the  BEA – Book Expo America 2010 – hosted in New York City next week.  http://www.bookexpoamerica.com/   I can’t wait to meet agents, authors and publishers………   Let me know if you are attending too. 

Thanks, Judy

SCGS Award Winner Update for 2009 GENEii Family Writing Contest

SCGS is pleased to announce the winners of the 2009 GENeii Family History Writing Contest for SCGS (Southern California Genealogy Society). Our congratulations to all who entered. Even if you were not a prize winner this year, we encourage you to keep writing your family tales and memoirs, and to try again next year.

1st Prize     Sarah Atkins    Lilburn, GA    “The Kitchen Windows of My Childhood”
2nd  Prize      Deborah Large Fox     Cherry Hill, NJ          “A Fearless Parade”
3rd Prize     Janelle Richardson,     Morro Bay, CA      “I Went to France to Fight”

Honorable Mentions
        Judy Lewin          St. Louis, MO         “Thank You, Janette”
        Katie Corbett         Palmdale, CA          “A Child of the Great Depression”
        Judith S. Cole         Bethany, CT         “A Genealogist and Her Daughter Walk into a Nursing Home”

Finalist      Mat Zucker         New York, NY         “Rose Isn’t Just Rose”

Southern California Society just announced JUDY WINNER !!!!!

The www.SCGSgenealogy.com  website just called to let me know I won an Honorable Mention for the 2009 GENIEii Family History Writing Contest.     My certificate is in the mail and will be posted on this website, as soon as it arrives !!!!

Another Relative found and we celebrate 90th birthday

In 2005, after we found my husband, Steve’s brother, John Nathan -  we found his father’s sister -   Mary Vogelsang.  Yesterday, we celebrated Mary’s 90th birthday.  She is such a sweat heart and I thank God everyday for the opportunity to know her family.  

Mary with her Grand-daughter and GREAT-granddaughter !!

    Kurt, Mary Ann, Judy and John Nathan                                                   

Kurt Kohring, John Nathan and Steve Lewin

Lillian Elkin Goleman’s TRUE Story arrived today

Well folks. I can’t tell you how delighted I am today when the dark brown UPS truck pulled up in front of our house. Even our dachsund, Louis, was barking and wagging his tail!!!! The true story of our cousin, Lillian Elkin Goleman, arrived today in Burgandy Hardback. WOW !!!!

After hours of researching Lil’s family and their immigration from Russia to America in 1920, the book is done !!!!!!!!!   In 1934, the doctor told Lil’s mother, Minnie ELkin, to take a vacation.  “Take a vacation -  Travel to Poland and visit your relatives….  ”  Using computer code written by Stephen Morse,  I found the ship’s manifest for Minnie Elkin when she traveled on the S S Champaign, a French Line, in 1934.   Family in Chicago heard rumors that Jews were not safe in Germany or Poland and sent a telegram to Minnie to “Return to AMerica as soon as possible. You may be in danger.” 

Minnie returned to America, due to her family’s dire warnings, sent food and money to her relatives, until one day….  Minnie’s letters were no longer delivered.  To my knowledge, all of their family remaining in Eastern Europe perished in the Holocaust.   

So, I am proud to have a book to give to Lillian Elkin Goleman on May 3, 2010 —  her 90th birthday.